Broken Mirror
by Ebenbild
Summary: A journalist comes to Durmstrang. Karkaroff believes he wants to interview Krum – so why does the journalist ask about a curse on the Headmaster position of Durmstrang? And what kind of curse is it? Krum wants to know – and gets unexpected help in his quest.


A journalist comes to Durmstrang. Karkaroff believes he wants to interview Krum – so why does the journalist ask about a curse on the Headmaster position of Durmstrang? And what kind of curse is it? Krum wants to know – and gets unexpected help in his quest.

 _ **Disclaimer**_ _: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…_

 _I plotted this together with Claude Amelia Song, so at least half of the credits go to her when it comes to the plot. xD I guess we dared each other to write a story based on the same plot… xDDD_

 _ **Claude Amelia Song** has her own story to this one: ' **Broken Mirror (a history of a cursed land)'**_

 _Influenced by American Horror Story – "Murder House", "Coven" and "Roanoke"_

xXxXxXxXxXxHarryxXxXxXxTwinxXxXxXxXxTwinxXxXxXxXxHarryxXxXxXxXxXxXx

sSsSsSsSs

 _ **BROKEN MIRROR**_

sSs

 _ **Mirror, Mirror on the wall…**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time, there was a family._

 _Once upon a time there was a home._

 _Once upon a time there were muggles._

 _And there were flames, and fire, and it burned, burned, burned…_

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Headmaster? You were asking for me?"

"I was, Mr Krum," the Headmaster agreed, leaning forward towards the seventeen-, nearly eighteen-year-old boy in front of his desk. "There's a journalist coming today. I thought it prudent to call you up here before he's here, to warn you."

"Warn me, Sir?" Viktor asked with a frown.

"I don't want you to make our school look bad, Mr Krum," the Headmaster replied. "So I called you here to make sure that you would answer the questions of the man without putting the school into a bad light."

Viktor's eyes narrowed.

"This won't be my first interview, Sir," he called the man out. "I know how to act when it comes to journalists and their questions. You wouldn't have lost face even without calling me here early, Headmaster Karkaroff."

"Of course, my boy, of course," the Headmaster of Durmstrang, one Igor Karkaroff, placated the boy. "but you are young, yet, Mr Krum, so forgive an old man for worrying."

And while Viktor's eyes still narrowed at the man who was the Head of his school, Viktor couldn't actually blame Karkaroff in that regard at all...

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time, there were four friends._

 _Once upon a time there was an unbreakable friendship._

 _Once upon a time there was a united dream._

 _And there were flames, and fire, and it burned, burned, burned..._

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Ah, Headmaster Karkaroff! How nice of you to make some time for me! I am Xenophilius Lovegood and this is my daughter Luna!"

Viktor Krum scrutinized the girl next to the man who was looking towards the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

"Shouldn't she be in school right now?" He finally pointed out, quite happy that he wasn't forced to speak English because the journalist spoke fluently in Bulgarian instead.

"Hmm?" The journalist said before turning to his daughter and looking at her thoughtfully. "Oh, no. Her school let out two days ago already. Hogwarts and Durmstrang don't have holidays at the same time, Mr Krum."

Well, considering that the schools were catering to different countries, Viktor guessed that it wouldn't be unusual to have a difference when it came to holidays as well...

But before he could say something to that at all, the Headmaster spoke up.

"That's all interesting," he said a bit irritated. "But I don't have all day – so would you please start with your questions, Mr Lovegood?"

"Of course," the man said before gesturing towards his daughter. The girl pulled out a notebook and a quill and nodded, ready to take notes.

Viktor on the other hand resigned himself with a mental sigh to another, hours-long interview about his newly reached position as a star Quidditch player for the World Cup in a few weeks...

He hated those, but he also knew that they were part of his job – if he liked it or not.

But instead of pestering him, the journalist turned towards the Headmaster.

"Very well," Lovegood agreed. "I understand a full schedule totally, so I will make it short."

He nodded to himself once, clearly getting in the mind to ask his questions as to the point as he could manage, then he took a deep breath and finally spoke up.

"Tell me, Headmaster Karkaroff," he said. "What do you know about the curse on the Headmaster-position here in Durmstrang?"

And while Igor Karkaroff nearly choked on his own spit at that question, Viktor mused absentmindedly that the man obviously hadn't expected that question at all...

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time there was a proud man who wanted to show his greatness to the world._

 _Once upon a time there was a wizard who became legend._

 _Once upon a time there was a legend who became a nightmare._

 _And there were flames, and fire and it burned, burned, burned..._

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Vhat vas that all about?" Viktor asked confused in English, not sure how good the girl's Bulgarian was, while he followed the humming girl out of the Headmaster's office.

He had been thrown out after the Headmaster had regained his bearing and now Viktor couldn't help it but feel curious as to what had actually happened in that room just a few minutes previously. The girl who had packed away her notebook and quill without a word and had beaten him to the door just hummed some more.

Finally, when Viktor actually stopped awaiting an answer to his question – after they had left the floor of the Headmaster's office and were now three floors down near the library... why had Viktor followed that girl as long as he had at all?! – she spoke up.

"Daddy is searching for the explanation of the curse on Durmstrang, Viktor Krum," she said. "He has always been interested, but until now, no Headmaster ever agreed to an interview with him."

Viktor frowned.

"Vhat curse?" He repeated.

The girl smiled at him, her eyes silver and dreamy.

"Every Headmaster or Headmistress of Durmstrang died before their time," she said matter-of-factly as if Viktor should know that already when he had never heard about that fact before. "Daddy thinks there might be Nargles involved, or Butter-Flutter-Flies. Of course, there's also the fact that no Headmaster of Durmstrang kept their oath for all the time they were in the office, so maybe it's caused by Hummdingers or Futterwings... or by a fire-breathing Souleater, you know?"

Viktor frowned at that. He had never heard of any the creatures the girl had named, but it was another thing that actually made him curious.

"Vhat oath?" He asked, suddenly feeling stupid.

The girl – Luna – just smiled at him.

"To keep the children safe," she said in the same voice she had used before. "They all were overtaken with greed or power or whatever after a time. Even the current Headmaster is heeding that way. But of course, you've already known this, haven't you, Viktor Krum?"

Then she looked thoughtfully at the ceiling again, her eyes piercing the ceiling as if it wasn't there at all.

"But then, maybe you haven't and the Headmasters' losing their goals is part of the curse as well," she said. "There isn't much known about it outside of Durmstrang after all – and even here, only the Headmasters get to see the documents that actually describe the curse. There might be a fire-breathing Souleater involved, after all. What do you think, Viktor Krum?"

Viktor frowned, ignoring the last sentence in favour of the rest which had made sense to him.

"But if the Headmasters know," he pointed out with a frown. "Then vhy has never one of them acted upon the information they haff?"

The young girl – and she was young, maybe about twelve, Viktor guessed – just looked at him pityingly.

"Because they can't, Viktor Krum," she said. "Whoever cursed this place was far more powerful than the Headmasters ever were – so there's no way for them to stop the curse."

There, her face turned thoughtful.

"Which actually truly speaks for the involvement of a fire-breathing Souleaster..." She added frowning.

"Oh," Viktor said, blinking in surprise at the first part of what she had said and how reasonable that answer sounded. "So... vhat vill you do now until your father finishes his interview?"

"Research," the girl replied and stopped in front of the doors to the library, leaving Viktor to wonder how she had known how to get there. "What else should I do, Viktor Krum?"

And when Viktor looked at her in confusion, she met his eyes with her own for the first time.

"Do you want to help me, Viktor Krum?"

Considering that the curse was on Viktor's school – what else should he do?

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time there was a man riddled with grief after loosing everything he held dear before._

 _Once upon a time there were friends who tried to sooth his pain with empty words and understanding._

 _Once upon a time there was hatred._

 _And there were flames, and fire, and it burned, burned, burned..._

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"This book says that the curse is older than the school," Viktor pointed out with a blank look on his face.

They were sitting in a hidden part of the library, surrounded by books about the school that nobody seemed to have read in for centuries.

"Well," Luna said, concentrating on her own. She was a bit slower reading the books they had selected, but then, the books were in Bulgarian, so Viktor was amazed that she could read them at all.

"My book just speaks of the possibilities of a lost soul wandering this school and watching over it with all the ghosts it killed and bound to its will. That does truly start to sound like a fire-breathing Souleater – which won't be fun, if it is. Fire-breathing Souleaters are dangerous and nobody can stop them if they decide to kill someone, you know, Viktor Krum?"

Viktor frowned, ignoring the tit-bit about the Souleater like he had done since he had met the girl and instead focused on what he could understand from the things she had said.

"Ve haff ghosts," he agreed. "But vhich school doesn't?"

Luna shrugged and looked up and through the bookcase in front of her, clearly deeply in thought.

"I think Mahoukoto doesn't, Viktor Krum," she finally said. "There are too many Shinigami in Japan that hunt down ghosts to keep them in school after they die."

That... wasn't an answer Viktor had been waiting for...

"Ah," he settled on to say after that unnecessary answer. "But Durmstrang has them."

"Yes," Luna agreed. "But the most of them are their former Headmasters and Headmstresses – and they can't talk, Viktor Krum."

Viktor frowned at that.

"But they talk," he countered. "I haff talked with several in my time here."

"Yes," Luna agreed. "But they never talk about what keeps them here – and they never talk about what killed them, do they, Viktor Krum?"

Viktor thought about that a bit baffled, but in the end, he had to agree with her. Not one of the former Headmasters and Headmistresses ever talked about their death or what kept them. Even more, there was fear in their gaze whenever they just neared those topics in one of their discussions.

Luna nodded as if Viktor had loudly agreed with her.

"That's a sign that something else is at work here, Viktor Krum," she told him. "This book shows me that my idea of it being a fire-breathing Souleater might not be too far off, after all – even if I would have preferred it if it was something else entirely. Fire-breathing Souleater aren't very nice creatures, you know?"

She looked thoughtfully at the book, before continuing: "But then, I should have guessed it. After all, this book isn't just about a simple ghost. It's about a soul controlling ghosts, Viktor Krum."

"Isn't a soul a ghost?" Viktor pointed out with a frown and Luna shrugged.

"The book says something of a magical construct as a body," she countered. "Which would make the soul more alive than dead, I guess, and a lot harder to point out in between the living – which actually doesn't fit the fire-breathing Souleater... but then, there are other creatures who might fit..."

Viktor couldn't argue with the first part of that explanation and nodded slowly.

"So... ve're looking for a human looking curse?" He guessed, ignoring the second part of the girl's words again.

Luna shrugged.

"That or Biting Boogey-Nails," she agreed. "They both seem to have the same ability to blend in with the humans around them without being found out."

Viktor simply disregarded the new creature the girl had mentioned. After getting into an argument about Nargles with her just a few hours ago, he had decided that his sanity was far more important then the creatures she mentioned which he had never heard about before...

Of course, it was then, that Luna decided to add to her previous statement another that was even more over the top.

"But then," she said. "Maybe that whole thing also has to do with the broken mirror behind us on the wall – or what do you think, Viktor Krum?"

Viktor frowned at her and turned around to look at the wall.

"There's no broken mir –"

He stopped midsentence and stared.

The wall – normally empty of everything – was adorned with a broken mirror. The mirror was old, made out of silver and blind. A silver snake curled around the upper part of its frame, the eyes glinting in the twilight of the library in emerald green. The part where one should have seen a reflection, didn't reflect anything. Instead, it showed a black hole, descending into nothing.

Viktor shuddered and turned away from the mirror, just to have goosebumps running over all of his body while his neck itched with the feeling of being watched.

He hurriedly turned back to look at the mirror again.

There was a shadow.

Just for a second, but Viktor could swear that he saw it anyway.

A shadow on the milky surface of the mirror.

Then it was gone – and with it the black hole that had swallowed the reflective surface of the mirror before. The only thing left behind was the broken and milky mirror itself, hanging innocently on the wall where it didn't belong...

Viktor turned away from it and forced himself to ignore it for the rest of the time he spend searching the books of Durmstrang with the girl next to him. Only when they finally left for the day – the girl returning to Britain while Viktor went back into normal school life – he dared to look at the wall again.

There was no mirror to be found.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time there was a man with dead eyes._

 _Once upon a time there was a man left alone and lost._

 _Once upon a time there was hatred, so much hatred._

 _And there were flames, and fire, and it burned, burned, burned..._

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

In the end, there hadn't been much facts they had found out about the school's curse – and the little they found were more speculations than anything.

But that didn't mean that Viktor's curiosity was satisfied with what they had found.

So, when his school year finally ended and he returned home, he found himself searching out his grandmother instead of relaxing before his next Quidditch match.

"Baba," he said, addressing her with a thoughtful look. "Do you know something about a curse on the Headmaster position in Durmstrang?"

The old lady looked him in the eyes with her nearly blind ones at that.

"You're talking about the unnatural deaths of the Headmasters and Headmistresses," she said matter-of-factly. "Not a lot of people talk about that anymore."

Viktor frowned.

"So – there is a curse?" He asked her a bit more urgently.

She just sighed.

"There has been one at least since the first Headmistress Nerida Vulchanova died through mysterious circumstances just a few years after founding the school. Ever since then, no Headmaster or Headmistress lived on until a natural death," she told him matter-of-factly. "It's not spoken about anymore – but I remember my baba telling me that the previous owners of the lands of Durmstrang were slaughtered by muggles and that it was the revenge of the only living family member which brought down the curse onto the school. This castle should have never been made into a school in the first place. It was a place of death and hatred and revenge. No master of this place will ever keep their right mind and we should be happy that **_he_** kills them off before they loose themselves to the curse."

" ** _He_**? Who's ** _he_**?" Viktor asked his grandmother, but the old woman just patted his cheek.

"Forget **_him_** ," she told him. " ** _His_** name rests in this land. We don't speak it anymore. Don't call **_him_** by taking **_his_** name into your mouth."

But Viktor was stubborn and he knew he couldn't rest until he knew... he just needed to know!

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time there were muggles._

 _Once upon a time there was a village._

 _Once upon a time there was grief and hatred and revenge, so much revenge._

 _And there were flames, and fire, and it burned, burned, burned..._

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

When Viktor found out about the Triwizarding Tournament, he wasn't too happy that he had to go to Hogwarts – and he wasn't too happy to be in Hogwarts until he met Luna again.

"Luna," he said, surprised when the girl suddenly stood in front of him when he had been walking aimlessly through the castle.

"Viktor Krum," she greeted him, her eyes dreamy as ever and looking right through him. "Are you in search of the library, Viktor Krum?"

"Ah..." He wanted to say 'no', but then, at least he knew the girl and knew she wouldn't fangirl all over him like the rest of Hogwarts seemed to do. "Only if you join me."

"Of course, Viktor Krum," Luna agreed immediately. "Do you want to take a look at Hogwarts' records? We went through the Durmstrang ones while I was visiting your school, after all."

What an odd reason to go through some records, but Viktor had nothing better to do and at least that part of the library in Hogwarts should be as undisturbed as the one in Durmstrang – and maybe that was the reason why Luna had invited him there of all places?

"Sure," he agreed and then followed her. "But we didn't look through all the records Durmstrang keeps."

"Oh?" The girl next to him said while guiding him to the library, her eyes still dreamy but her voice suddenly uncannily interested.

"There's still the archive," Viktor pointed out. "It holds the classified records of Durmstrang."

"Hmm," Luna said and her dreamy gaze found the ceiling. "Maybe that might be the right place to look for the curse, after all."

Obviously, she hadn't given up on finding the answer just like he hadn't, yet.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time there were tears and hatred and revenge._

 _Once upon a time there was revenge and a curse._

 _Once upon a time there was a curse that bound a man and a place and the hatred that had started it all._

 _And there were flames, and fire, and it burned, burned, burned..._

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It was hours later that Viktor stumbled upon something he hadn't expected at all in a book about the four Founders of Hogwarts.

"That place," he said, staring at the book in front of him. "I know that place!"

"Hmm?" Luna said, looking up from her own book, before asking. "What place are you talking about, Viktor Krum?"

Viktor run his finger over the ink on the page he had been reading.

"The place where one of your founders is rumoured to be from," he said and Luna's dreamy eyes sharpened.

"What about it, Viktor Krum?" She asked, her eyes suddenly penetrating him with her stare. He shuddered thanks to the strength in her gaze, before looking around to ensure that they were alone. His eyes only found bookcases and a single, unbroken mirror on the wall. The mirror had a silver snake curled around the upper part of its frame, the eyes glinting in the twilight of the library in emerald green. He shuddered again at the mirror – so similar to the broken one he remembered from Durmstrang – but ignored it to focus on Luna.

"It's Durmstrang," he finally confessed, and Luna's eyes widened. "The place mentioned is Durmstrang."

And why did it feel like the chime of the bell – speaking of a new hour – had turned into the bell of doom instead?

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time there was a man who had left his home to found a school in a far away land._

 _Once upon a time there was a man returning to ashes and loss._

 _Once upon a time a muggle hater was born through the loss of a family and a home._

 _And there were flames, and fire and it burned, burned, burned..._

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Headmaster – where are you going?"

The man flinched, his eyes tracing the shadows around them, seemingly seeing people that others couldn't see.

"M... Mr Krum," he stuttered. "Shouldn't you be sleeping? It was quite a trying day for you, after all?"

Viktor just frowned at the older man.

"Are you talking about being Imperiused, Headmaster, or about the fact that one of my competitors died today?"

The Headmaster of Durmstrang shuddered, before rubbing his arm violently.

"B... both, I guess, Mr Krum," he replied and tried to mimic a smile.

Viktor's eyes just narrowed further.

"You're running away from something," he said, his eyes as sharp as his mind. "You're going to leave us here alone to fend for ourselves while you run away."

Karkaroff shuddered.

"I'm not running," he countered. "D... don't be silly, Mr Krum!"

Viktor just stared at the man, not believing one word.

"If you run now, Headmaster," he finally decided to point out when the Headmaster turned and actually started to leave. "You will break your oath to the school. You're already toeing the line – but if you leave, the curse will see it as a broken oath and you will suffer for it."

Karkaroff snorted at those words.

"There is no curse, boy," he countered. "It's all superstition – not real at all!"

"And the ghosts of the Headmasters in Durmstrang who can't talk about what happened to them? The legends? The connection between Hogwarts and Durmstrang?" Viktor countered. "Is that all a lie – superstition – as well?"

The Headmaster shuddered, but then he nodded to himself, his eyes grim.

"There is no curse," he said, his voice sure and cold. "You should know better than to believe in old wives' tales!"

With that, the man turned around and left with hurried footsteps.

Viktor watched him go, and just for a second, a tiny second, he believed to see a mirror on the far-away wall of Hogwarts. A mirror with a silver snake curled around the upper part of its frame, the eyes glinting in the twilight of the day in emerald green and a formerly reflective, now blind surface which reflected a shadow just for a moment. But when Viktor actually looked at Hogwarts, the image was gone and only the castle remained...

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time a grief-stricken man returned to his friends, pleading for help to revenge his family._

 _Once upon a time the friends tried to support him without turning into mass-murderers themselves._

 _Once upon a time the man turned to hatred towards the children of the ones who took his family._

 _Once upon a time, the man fought with his friends and left to take his revenge alone._

 _And there were flames, and fire, and it burned, burned, burned..._

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Vhy do I haff to help you to break into Durmstrang?" Viktor asked frowning while he watched Luna skipping through his old school with a sure pace on the way to the archives. "You obviously know vhere to go."

Luna just send him a brilliant smile at that, her eyes as dreamy as ever.

"But you're a former student here, Viktor Krum," she said. "It's far easier to enter the school if I'm invited by one of its former students then to try and enter it alone!"

Viktor huffed.

"Ve shouldn't be here. I don't think your father vould be happy if he knew –"

"What Daddy doesn't know, he doesn't mind," Luna countered joyfully and stopped before a blank wall. She hummed, pressed a few stones seemingly randomly.

When Viktor opened his mouth to ask what she was actually doing there, there was a grinding sound from the wall and then a hidden door opened.

"Ah!" Luna said happily. "The hidden archives!"

"Vell," Viktor huffed. "That's one vay to find a vay in."

Luna send him a smile and skipped inside without a care.

"The Blibbering Hummdinger told me where to find the entrance," she confessed.

Viktor frowned, but before he could say anything, a voice could be heard from inside the room Luna had just entered.

"W... what are you doing here, girl?! How... how did you find me?!"

Viktor immediately sped up, rounded the corner and drew his wand.

In the room was Igor Karkaroff, former Headmaster of Durmstrang.

His clothing was ripped, his hair in disarray and he looked worse for wear all over.

Something crazed had entered his gaze as well.

His wand was pointed at Luna.

"Are you responsible?" He asked, sounding as crazed as his gaze suggested he was. "Are you responsible? Are you the one watching me? Following me with your mirror everywhere?!"

Luna just smiled at the crazed man and didn't move.

"I'm not," she said, oddly calm considering that a wand was pointed at her. "And you know it, Igor Karkaroff."

The crazed man stared at her and it was then that Viktor could see the mirror on the wall behind the other man. The mirror was broken and blind. A silver snake curled around the upper part of its frame, the eyes glinting in the twilight of the day in emerald green. And in the mirror, a shadow was watching.

Viktor stared at it and paled.

The Headmaster obviously saw where Viktor was looking, because he turned and saw the shadow as well.

"No!" Karkaroff whispered, his wand turning towards the mirror and away from Luna. "No! You can't be real! You're not there! You're dead! You're dead! You're dead!"

The shadow smirked, then it stepped out of the mirror.

A mass of black and darkness and a being that once had been human but wasn't anymore.

A construct of magic bound together by a soul lost in grief and hatred.

Karkaroff stepped backwards, behind Luna, behind Viktor.

"No!" He whispered. "No! You can't have me! You aren't real! You're dead! Dead! Dead!"

The shadow stepped a single step forward and Karkaroff...

He shoved Viktor and Luna towards the figure in front of him – sacrificing two children for his soul – and ran.

Viktor stumbled, while trying to catch his balance, trying to catch Luna, but he couldn't stop them and they would crash into the shadow and...

Viktor fell, his hands closing around Luna, shielding her – but instead of hitting the shadow, instead of dying, they only hit the floor.

And when Viktor looked up, the shadow was gone, just like Karkaroff was gone as well...

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time a man returned to his destroyed home and took his revenge by burning a village._

 _Once upon a time the villagers cursed him and his home to never find peace._

 _Once upon a time the man cursed himself to stay on this earth until he would atone for the sin he had committed by not being there when his family had needed him._

 _Once upon a time a curse took hold in Durmstrang after the first Headmistress was led astray from her goal by the curse of the villagers – and a soul sworn to the land by his own curse, stepped in with murder._

 _And there were flames, and fire, and it burned, burned, burned..._

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The war tore them apart, but still, they kept to their search whenever they had time, whenever they were free of the war and all its consequences. It was the day before Luna was kidnapped when they found the missing piece of the puzzle.

They had met in Britain, Luna forbidden to leave by her father, and were standing in front of the Rockery, next to each other.

"Durmstrang shouldn't haff been founded vhere it vas," Viktor said while watching the grass. "It's cursed land – and the curse runs too deep."

"It shouldn't," Luna agreed with a sigh. "But it was. We can't change it now. At least the students are safe there as long as **_he_** 's watching."

"Vhy do you say ' _ **he**_ '?" Viktor asked Luna with interest in his eyes. "Vhy not simply call **_him_** by name?"

"Because sometimes calling things by name gives them power," Luna replied. "And some things shouldn't be given power, Viktor Krum."

Viktor thought that over.

"You're right," he agreed. "But sometimes naming things is the right thing to do anyvay."

Luna looked at him thoughtfully at that.

"So..." She said slowly. "You think we should name **_him_**?"

Viktor nodded, slowly but surely.

"It's the right thing to do," he told her. " ** _He_** might haff gone wrong, but once, **_he_** vas great. Let **_him_** be great again – for Durmstrang's sake."

And Luna smiled.

"Yes," she agreed. "Once, Salazar Slytherin was great. It might be time that Salazar Slytherin is great again."

"Salazar," Viktor repeated. "Salazar Slytherin."

Neither of them would ever know that in that moment Igor Karkaroff would be found again. He was found lying down on the earth, unmoving.

"His old comrades murdered him," people concluded. "No surprise there."

And next to him was a broken mirror with a silver snake curled around the upper part of its frame, the eyes glinting in the twilight of the day in emerald green. And in the mirror, a shadow was mocking the rest of the world and their beliefs...

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall...**_

xXx

 _Once upon a time a man became a shadow of revenge._

 _Once upon a time a haunted house became a school._

 _Once upon a time a new ghost joined all those ghosts already there._

 _The ghost's name was Igor Karkaroff – and he couldn't talk about his fate to anyone at all._

 _Because there were flames, and fire and it burned, burned, burned..._

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 **The Truth About The Curse On Durmstrang**

By Luna Lovegood and Viktor Krum

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Today, a year and a day after the final fall of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, another mystery of the Wizarding World will finally put to rest: The mystery of what happened to all the Headmasters and Headmistresses of Durmstrang – and how a Founder of Hogwarts was involved...

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 _ **Mirror, mirror on the wall: Who's the fairest of them all?**_

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xXxXxXxXxXxHarryxXxXxXxTwinxXxXxXxXxTwinxXxXxXxXxHarryxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _Baba – Grandmother (Bulgarian)_

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 _Well, I guess I'm actually far away from my usual spiel here… xDD_

 _I hope you liked it anyway!_

 _Ebenbild_

 _Hogwarts, Gryffindor_

 _WC: ca. 5100_

 _Challenge: 'Through the Universe'. Prompt_ _: Lunar Eclipse – (character) Luna Lovegood_


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